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Update on Abbey

As many of you know, my dear Abbey had surgery approximately 2 years ago--was 2 years in March. She has been on omeprazole, gabapentin and prednison since her surgery and doing relatively well. She of course still shows symptoms and has permanent neuro damage from being misdiagnosed for so long. We recently noticed that her back legs are shaky. Unfortunately, the neuro that did her surgery from Auburn U in Alabama is no longer there--he is now at Mississippi U which is 400 miles from here. I have a call in to my vet and have also emailed Dr. Shores at Mississippi and I think they will probably do a phone consultation. So in case she has really gone downhill fast I want to prepare myself as its going to literally kill me to hear that she has gotten bad. I want to be positive as she's still a happy dog but I'm getting nervous and I've always said I will never let her be in pain.

There is a possibility that Abbey's shaky back legs are not related to her SM - Cavaliers seem fairly prone to other spinal and disk problems. My Oliver, for example, has spondylosis (osteo-arthritis of the spine) which produced wobbly back legs - and complicated the issue! - just at the time he was diagnosed with SM. He copes very well with it but still walks a little stiffly with his hind legs a bit far apart to balance himself. Doesn't stop him running across rough grass, climbing over ditches, jumping onto furniture or doing anything else he wants to do!

My advise is not to assume the worse. Like kate said, it could be a number of things which to me seems hard to diagnose through a phone consultation. I don't know exacty where you are located and I hate dr. Shores moved but I would either look up the board certified neurologists on www.cavalierhealth.org at the ones in red. I'm not sure who is now at auburn but imo, I would see a specialists even if not dr. Shores to get accurate diagnosis.

Good to hear from you again, Linderbelle, and so glad that Abbey has been leading a good life after her surgery 2 years ago.

I'm another one with an SM-affected Cavalier with weak hindlegs, but who also has degenerated disks, so we just can't know what is causing what. Megan was diagnosed in 2007 and is now 12 years old and still leading a contented (though obviously less active) life, so please don't despair too soon.

Let us know what the consultant says and good luck hugs to you and Abbey.

Hi Linda,
Its great to hear from you again. I'm glad to hear that Abbey is hanging on in there - hopefully her shaky legs can be sorted out easily and that it's not a sign that her sm is progressing.
Will you let us know how you got on with the neuro?
Best wishes....

Taking her to Vet today

I contacted Dr. Shores in Mississippi yesterday by e-mail and we agreed that a good starting point is to take her to my vet today and then the two of them do a phone consultation to go from there. Yes I know there are other neurologists at Auburn and her records are there etc. but if I have to take her somewhere I'm really leaning towards Dr. Shores but unfortunately he is now 400 miles from me. I feel he knows her as he has seen her numerous times and wouldn't just be working from her records. He did her surgery etc. I know it can be numerous things and she does have neurological damage from being misdiagnosed for 5 years--one of which is scoliosis which maybe this has something to do with. I will try to post tonight from home and if not will certainly tomorrow morning. It is so hard to get in here these days as I'm still working for my husband part time and hold another full time job--just not enough hours in a day anymore. Thanks for the advice all. It helped ALOT.

Well Linda I wondered what had happened to you. I was hoping that Abbey was OK. If it's not one thing, it's another with these dogs! I hope you get some answers today. Hopefully it's not related to a downward spiral of her SM. Please let us know what the specialists say. We're all anxious to hear. Riley's doing great by the way.

Bev I'm certainly busy but I love it--had way too much time on my hands before--the reason why I was on here so much--lol.

Anyways, took Abbey to vet late yesterday afternoon. He x-rayed her and ruled out any disc problems etc. and said he would call Dr. Shores last night and would give his cell # so I imagine they will hook up today and my vet will call me as soon as he talks to him. My vet did say she looked happier than she did before and she is happy and I don't feel she's in any more pain than before but just concerned about the shaky leg deal. I know Dr. Shores would love to mri her again but we shall see what happens. I will post as soon as I know more.